If we want to preserve the morality of a free-market system, we cannot permit our central bank to carry out monetary policy in ways that play favorites. It’s especially egregious that the Fed has become complicit in drawing off capital into the abyss of deficit financing; clearly, our central bank is catering to the political class, bailing out Washington itself through massive purchases of government debt obligations. Monetary policy today delivers the biggest benefits to the world’s largest borrower​—​our federal government.

If we continue to allow the Fed to underwrite deficit spending and inflict the resulting monetary distortions on the people who actually contribute real value to the economy, who live and work in the belief that saving is a virtue, we will witness the steady demoralization of democratic capitalism.